August 25, 2008
Purdue to celebrate Green Week
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - |
Each day will focus on one aspect of preserving the environment and practicing conservation. There will be opportunities for students, faculty and staff, and community members to participate throughout the week.
"We need to all start talking about what we do every day," said Robin Ridgway, Purdue's environmental regulatory consultant and chair of the Purdue Sustainability Council.
"The value of Green Week is in encouraging conversation about sustainability and what it means for Purdue and the broader community. We need to move together as a group."
Sustainability is defined as meeting current needs in ways that won't compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
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Purdue has launched a green Web site at https://www.purdue.edu/green . It offers information on Purdue's green initiatives, tips on conservation and an interactive portion where people can write about their environmental successes.
The Web site will be ongoing, but it also is serving as a clearinghouse for information about Green Week, including constantly updated lists of activities.
Each day of Green Week will have a theme: Monday, sustainability; Tuesday, reduce, reuse, recycle; Wednesday, energy; Thursday, research; and Friday, water. Events are still being developed but are likely to include activities such as clean-up efforts, recycling opportunities and incentives for trying alternative transportation.
Green Week will culminate with a full day of programs Friday, Sept. 19, and a speech that night by Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author Thomas Friedman.
Discovery Park's Energy Center, Center for the Environment and Purdue Climate Change Research Center plan a morning of lectures by outside experts on the environment, conservation and energy, and an afternoon town hall forum, all free and open to the public.
"The centers are collaborating on these Green Week activities to spark a lively discussion of research and reality at the intersection of climate, environment, energy technology alternatives and policy," said Jay Gore, the Reilly Professor in Engineering and Energy Center director. "As a community, we will explore the new paths we must take to determine how we can live and grow our global community."
A cleanup along the banks of the Wabash River is planned for late afternoon, with volunteers from both the campus and community pitching in to collect trash.
Friedman, foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times, will speak at 7:30 p.m. in Elliott Hall of Music about his latest book, "Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution - and How It Can Renew America." He will sign books after the talk.
The speech is free and open to the public, but reserved tickets are required. Tickets can be picked at the Hall of Music box office between 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Tickets also can be reserved by calling the box office at (765) 494-3933.
"The impetus for Green Week was Tom Friedman's visit," Ridgway said. "Friedman's writings focus on the importance of having a very serious conversation about what's happening now and what we can do in the future."
Writers: Judith Barra Austin, (765) 494-2432, jbaustin@purdue.edu
Phillip Fiorini, (765) 496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu
Sources: Robin Ridgway, (765) 496-6405, rmridgway@purdue.edu
Jay Gore, (765) 494-2122, gore@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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